Two car rallies took place at once this weekend in Moscow. Involving different participants with different political views, they still had the same purpose - to express their opinion about current Prime Minister.

      Against

      On Sunday, hundreds of cars trailing white ribbons drove around downtown Moscow to protest against the expected Putin's return to the Kremlin after presidential elections.

      Organizers said about 2,000 motorists took part in the White Streets rally, while police put the number at 150. The rally's participants designed their cars with white ribbons, balloons and banners with slogans against Putin. They expressed their tiredness of enormous corruption, lawlessness and unfairness during his ruling.

      A similar rally took place on January 29 when organizers said around 3,000 motorists took part. Police reported only 300 participants. The recent action is a some kind of rehearsal for "The Big White Circle", which will take place on February 26 and is expected to see about 34,000 people lining up in the cars along the Garden Ring, thus "encircling" the Kremlin.

      The Russian blogosphere has already circulated a selection of photos made during the rally. The civil movement Fair Vote for Russia works hard towards assembling a worldwide support for Russian protesters against the current regime. We have obtained commentary from one of their leaders. In particular, it is interesting to note that, in addition to downplaying the participants' figures, the Moscow police also redirected the protesters, effectively closing the route that was originally planned. Meanwhile, the journalists who were reporting for the State-financed TV channels were presenting the protest as a kind of antisocial behaviour that only succeeds at making Moscow traffic jams even worse.

      The autorallies on February 19 for the fair elections took place across Russia, although it appears that the general mood was rather positive and not at all offensive. Moreover, not only people but dogs, too, are politically minded in Moscow, and street photographers documented this.

      Photos, from top: "Putin, Go Away! (Moscow White Street Rally, February 19, 2012), "Putin, How About Speaking to Navalny on air on ORT Channel?" (Moscow White Street Rally, February 19, 2012), dogs taking part in a rally (Moscow), "We are for fair amphoras" (Ulyanovsk White Street Rally, February 19, 2012), "Pu, Go Away on March 4th" (Ulyanovsk).

       

       

      

      

      

For

      On the evening of 18th of February, about 2,000 cars participated in a rally in downtown Moscow in support of the main presidential candidate. The Ridus news portal said the figure was much lower. On the contrary, organizers of the rally, named “aVVto Party”, said there were up to 5,000 cars participating.

      Similarly to the protest rally, the activists designed their cars with banners and slogans, but their general tone was approving. People expressed their wishes for stability (the main point of Putin's pre-election program) and gradual developement of the country.

      Sources: Lenta.ru (2) Facebook FVfR, Fair Vote for Russia, Ridus News, Politics-ru. Images: abakanonline, Facebook, Ridus News, Politics-ru.